VZCZCXYZ0017
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHFR #0544 0401648
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 091648Z FEB 07
FM AMEMBASSY PARIS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4862
RUEATRS/TREASURY DEPT WASHDC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC

C O N F I D E N T I A L PARIS 000544 
 
SIPDIS 
 
INFO SECDEF WASHDC 
UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EUR/WE; NEA/IR; EB/IFD/ODF and EB/ESC/TFS Treasury for 
IA/Office of Trade Finance 
E.O. 12958: DECL:01/17/2017 
TAGS: PREL EFIN MNUC EXIM UNSC OECD IR FR
SUBJECT: FRANCE TIGHTENS POLICY ON IRAN EXPORT CREDITS 
 
REFS: A) STATE 4760  B) Paris 407 
 
Classified By: Charge Thomas J. White for reasons 1.4 (b) and 
(d). 
 
¶1.  (C) SUMMARY:  France ratcheted up the pressure on Iran by 
publicly announcing a change in its export credit policy.  It 
will strictly apply UNSCR 1737, ask companies to screen all 
transactions with its export credit agency, and lower its 
exposure to Iran.  The announcement marks a u-turn in France's 
previous reluctance to approach its private sector on the issue. 
 END SUMMARY 
 
¶2.  (U) At the Finance Ministry's annual meeting on export 
credit policy held on February 8, Xavier Musca, Director General 
for Economic Policy, announced France is changing its export 
credit policy to Iran.  He discussed UNSC resolution 1737, which 
he described as an issue that encompasses much more than export 
credit policy and which represents a change for the 
international community with regard to relations with Iran.  He 
said France could not ignore the context of that resolution, and 
so France henceforth would factor two considerations into its 
export credit policy to Iran. 
 
¶3.  (U) First, Musca said France would follow a strict 
application of UNSCR 1737.  He said the Ministry of Finance has 
asked France's export credit company, COFACE (Compagnie 
Francaise d'Assurance pour le Commerce Exterieur), to put into 
place a system for companies to declare all transactions with 
Iran to allow the Ministry to screen for compliance with the 
resolution.  Second, Musca said that prudence dictates that, 
although export credits will not be wholly cut off, France will 
lower its credit cap in 2007.  Musca added that these two 
measures are entirely dependent on what Iran chooses to do about 
its nuclear weapons program, and also upon further action in the 
UN Security Council. 
 
¶4.  (U)  The announcement was the only change in export credit 
policy announced by Musca at the meeting, to which were invited 
about 300 representatives of the financial community (e.g., ING 
Bank, BNP Paribas, Societe Generale, etc.), the export community 
(COFACE, Natixis, UbiFrance, etc.), large multinationals (AREVA, 
Alstom, Alcatel-Lucent, Siemens, Peugeot, General Electric, 
etc.) and defense firms (EADS, Eurocopter, Thales, among 
others).  In the accompanying handouts, Iran was listed as the 
ninth most active market for COFACE in 2006, with 93 contracts 
guaranteed, not including planes and ships.  It was also listed 
as the only country where the 2007 ceiling for maturities was 
expected to go down (within contracts in a range of 200-500 
million euros or 260-650 million dollars).  On the accompanying 
map, France has placed an asterisk on Iran, explaining it is 
subject to restrictive measures per UNSC 1737. 
 
¶5. (C) Commment: Musca's announcement comes days after the 
Ambassador wrote to Finance Minister Breton urging him to halt 
export credits to Iran, per ref A.  While the performance was a 
marked change in tone for Musca, who just this past summer 
vehemently listed for us his objections to advising the private 
sector of the prudential risks of dealing with Iran, it is 
consistent with his view that more robust action with the French 
private sector would require the cover of a UNSCR.   The policy 
is also in line with what French officials had told us 
previously (ref B), but its importance lies in the very public 
nature of its delivery. 
 
Please visit Paris' Classified Website at: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/paris/index.c fm 
 
WHITE